Followers

Tuesday, 17 September 2013

Hi, firstly, my apologies for my absence of late. My partner's brother died a couple of weeks ago so it's been a very difficult fortnight, and unfortunately this will be a fairly short post as the funeral takes place tomorrow.

Over at the Craft-Room Challenge, it is time for a new theme, this time chosen by our fabulous leader (and also a very good friend) Zoe - this is what she would like to see:

Anything Goes With Wood

Zoe says:

When I saw the stand at a local craft show I had to get a selection of goodies to try, wood is a great medium to work with and this time we would like you to include something made of wood in your entry. Real wood not an image be it twigs from the garden, some bark, or a wooden embellishment from the craft shop. Anything just keep the wood as the main focus.

My creation is a very simple one using a wooden frame I bought at Port Sunlight from IndigoBlu, which I stained with Walnut Distress Stain.:

If you know me, then you will know that I love using wood and mdf - once sanded a bit, it's absolutely fantastic for stamping directly onto and beautiful treasures can be created. These frames are great for using with 3d embellishments because of the deep recess. I've stamped a SU flourish all around the edge of the frame and attached a just a TH embellishment at the top. Inside the frame, I've mounted an image by The Stampsmith, stamped onto card coloured with DI and stamped around the edge with an IndigoBlu crackle stamp and the same SU flourish as on the frame. The gorgeous lace trim is attached around the edge, which was a gift from Lynne at Adorn (thank you so much Lynne :-).

Sunday, 15 September 2013

Just a very short post this evening. Unfortunately I have been absent for a couple of weeks due to a family bereavement, but I hope to be back shortly.

As you know, I was thrilled to be asked to be a Guest Designer at The Stampsmith Challenge & Blog, and this is the second project I created, inspired by the song "Always & Forever" (do you remember the song?):

A small mdf wedding keepsake which has been covered in a mixture of Kraft cardstock and co-ordinating dps by Melissa Frances.

The main image on the front cover is from the plate "Thank Heavens For Little Girls" - it has been trimmed to fit inside the bronze frame, then covered with Ice Resin.

The inside of the third page features another Stampsmith image from the "Wedding Bells" plate, which sits behind a painted and crackled chipboard frame:

There are two pockets in the album for special mementos and a Kraft frame, which I've left open at the top, for a special personal photograph to be slipped into.

Various charms and embellishments have been added to the front page - all the pages can be seen in the photo collage below:

There is still plenty of time to join in the challenge - just create a project (using at least one Stampsmith stamp) which has been Inspired By A Song.

I'd to say a big "hello" to my new followers, and also a huge thank you to all my regular visitors for your continued patience - it really seems to be one thing after another this year.

Sunday, 1 September 2013

Hi, I hope you are all well and ok. Those of you who know me or who follow my blog will know that The Stampsmith Challenge is a firm favourite of mine and that I absolutely love their stamps. A little while ago, I was extremely honoured to be asked to be a Guest Designer with them for the next few months, so I would like to say a big thank you!. The theme for September is:

'Inspired By A Song'

With all the new mdf I recently acquired, I decided to make a wall hanging, which was inspired by the song by Martina McBride "In My Daughter's Eyes" - the words to this song are beautiful and so touching, and really took me back to that overwhelming feeling I had for my daughter once she was born. She's 19 now and has made me a very proud nanna, and of course, that feeling always stays.

This was definitely a labour of love, lol. The base was undercoated with Gesso, painted with a couple of layers of chalk paint (sanding in between), stamped with lots of words relating to Mother/Daughter, repainted, and sanded again. Around the edge, I used some Paperartsy Grunge Paste, stamped into with a CI crackle stamp, and then painted it with the same colour as the background, highlighting the raised areas with Treasure Gold in White Fire. The trim across the bottom also has pearls added and a seam binding bow.

The gorgeous Stampsmith image, from the plate "Thank Heavens For Little Girls" was stamped in Coffee Archival Ink and matted onto some music dp, then onto Kraft.

All of the rolled roses I made myself from ribbon, and just added some pearls, a couple of paper roses, and a couple of resin ones. The Tim Holtz Idealogy Hardware was also painted with chalk paint, and again, highlighted with White Fire Treasure gold (I love how this turned out) - the word 'family' (Making Memories) underneath the plate was covered with Decoart Crackle medium, and then inked to show the crackle a little more. A vintage style cameo sits amongst the roses, as does a metal heart, which was also painted with chalk paint.

The Tim Holtz glass vial contains the words to the song rolled up tightly and hangs from some chain attached to the hardware above.

A couple of other embellishments such as a TH ticket and a sentiment bar across the top finish this off, along with a picture hook across the back to hang it from.

I hope you like it, and if you have any Stampsmith stamps, that you can join in with the challenge.

Thank you so much for your visit - I have been unable to visit recently due to a few personal problems, but I really appreciate the comments which you leave for me.

About Me

Hi, my name's Maria and I live in Manchester with my partner Dave, my daughter Hannah and grandson Ethan, our springer spaniel Jack, and four cats. I love wall hangings and other bits and bobs, and even cards sometimes, and particularly love rubber stamping. I work full time in accounting so it's a nice way to wind down and leave work behind and disappear into my own little space. xxxxx